Post by Sandy on Mar 11, 2009 9:19:27 GMT
Welcome to the knit-a-square forum, we are excited to have you as a forum member and contributor.
Firstly, we would like to acknowledge a major contribution from Kerry Paris in London. This forum is her voluntary initiative. Not only has she established it , she has also consented to moderate the UK forum. Many, many thanks Kerry. And thanks as well to Kalai McDonald and Erin Van der Vyver, who have agreed to moderate the Australian and South African forums respectively.
For those of you who are new to knit-a-square.com, it was set up in October 2008 to ask the knitters and crocheters of the world to send an 8 x 8" (20 x 20cm) square, or more, to specified charities in South Africa, and soon Zimbabwe, where they will be made up into blankets for the abandoned children and AIDS orphans of Southern Africa.
There are an estimated 2.2 million orphans in South Africa and Zimbabwe alone, many of them as a result of losing their parents to HIV AIDS. The number is growing - over 500 children a day become orphans. This is a terrible and mostly unrecognised human tragedy.
These children live in terrible poverty. They lack love, shelter, food, education and warmth. Many charities are working hard to provide the first four of these basic human needs. The knitters and crocheters of the world can provide the last.
This forum has been set up to encourage you to continue knitting and crocheting over many years to both support this goal and each other. It will serve as a great communications vehicle to resolve issues around yarns, gauge, postage, patterns and any other issues that arise as time goes on.
The project has already been shown incredible generosity from those who know about it, in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Europe and South Africa. Many of you have volunteered great ideas as to how to get more squares to Africa, and publicity ideas to get the word around, ideas for cheaper postage, You have sent photographs and stories to encourage and enlist others, all of which we are very grateful for.
We would love to share all of this wonderful kindness and support with everyone involved, and this forum will allow us to do that.
Thank you all for your time and effort to send a little bit of love and warmth across the world to these children.
Firstly, we would like to acknowledge a major contribution from Kerry Paris in London. This forum is her voluntary initiative. Not only has she established it , she has also consented to moderate the UK forum. Many, many thanks Kerry. And thanks as well to Kalai McDonald and Erin Van der Vyver, who have agreed to moderate the Australian and South African forums respectively.
For those of you who are new to knit-a-square.com, it was set up in October 2008 to ask the knitters and crocheters of the world to send an 8 x 8" (20 x 20cm) square, or more, to specified charities in South Africa, and soon Zimbabwe, where they will be made up into blankets for the abandoned children and AIDS orphans of Southern Africa.
There are an estimated 2.2 million orphans in South Africa and Zimbabwe alone, many of them as a result of losing their parents to HIV AIDS. The number is growing - over 500 children a day become orphans. This is a terrible and mostly unrecognised human tragedy.
These children live in terrible poverty. They lack love, shelter, food, education and warmth. Many charities are working hard to provide the first four of these basic human needs. The knitters and crocheters of the world can provide the last.
This forum has been set up to encourage you to continue knitting and crocheting over many years to both support this goal and each other. It will serve as a great communications vehicle to resolve issues around yarns, gauge, postage, patterns and any other issues that arise as time goes on.
The project has already been shown incredible generosity from those who know about it, in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Europe and South Africa. Many of you have volunteered great ideas as to how to get more squares to Africa, and publicity ideas to get the word around, ideas for cheaper postage, You have sent photographs and stories to encourage and enlist others, all of which we are very grateful for.
We would love to share all of this wonderful kindness and support with everyone involved, and this forum will allow us to do that.
Thank you all for your time and effort to send a little bit of love and warmth across the world to these children.